What Is Weighty?
I.
When we honor God He and
His things are weighty to us, they are important to us, they’re big to us and
we treat them in such a way that reflects that; When we dishonor God He and His
stuff is light and insignificant to us and we treat them in a way that reflects
that
A. Just ‘how weighty is God
and His things to you?’ is a determining factor in the level of honor that
you’ll walk in
1.
Honor-To be heavy, To be
weighty (Weighty-Important, big,
serious, momentous, important, significant, meaningful)
a. The opposite of weighty
is light-having little
weight, not important, slight-of
no great importance, negligent, not done with effort, trifling-being of small value or importance, trivial, acting
and talking with levity, without seriousness
2.
When God’s stuff is
weighty to you, then you will live a life of honor treating God and his stuff
with great respect
a. When God and His stuff is
light to you will demonstrate dishonor and treat God and his stuff with
disrespect
3.
Heavy
Scriptures
a. Isaiah 24:20-The earth shall reel to & fro like a
drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; & the transgression thereof
shall be heavy upon it; and
it shall fall, and not rise again
b. Genesis 18:20-Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great,
and because their sin is very grievous;
(Their sin was heavy, it was a big deal)
c. Job 6:2-3-Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid
in the balances together! 3 For now it would be heavier
than the sand of the sea (He’s grief and calamity are a big deal to him and
they are the biggest thing going on his life)
d. Genesis 12:10- Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous
in the land. (The famine was a big deal)
e. Exodus 5:9-7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to
make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8
And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon
them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they
cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.9 Let there more work be
laid upon the men, that they
may labor therein; and let them not regard
vain words. (He wants this work to be the heaviest thing in their life, not
sacrificing to their God)
f.
Ezekiel 27:24-25-These
were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work,
and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy
merchandise. The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou
were replenished, and made very glorious
in the midst of the seas. (As they loaded it down, it was heavy, more valuable,
more significant)
B. Weighty vs. Light
1.
2
Samuel 6:20-22-They got the ark of the Lord back, it is a very big deal and
David is acting like it’s a big deal and in doing so he’s being honorable (Vile-To slight, trifling,
lightly esteemed, make light, treat with contempt, bring dishonor; Base-Low)
a. How glorious was the king of Israel today; She thinks he’s
devaluing himself in the eyes of the people, that the people will think little
of him if they see this; David said they won’t think lightly of me for seeing this
they will think more of me when they see this
2.
Isaiah
43:4-When something is very valuable to you, precious to you it’s weighty, it’s
important to you
a. Precious-Esteem, valuable, highly valued; Honorable-Weighty, Heavy
3.
Isaiah
49:5-6-The prophet said I will be glorious (heavy) in the eyes of the Lord
– The Lord esteems me highly
a. God said to him it’s no light (little, insignificant,
treat with contempt and dishonor, to make light of) thing to be my servant
4.
Isaiah
3:5-The base (lightly
esteemed) against the honorable
(weighty, heavy)
5.
Lamentations
1:8-All that honored (weighty) her, despise
(Light, insignificant) her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea she sighs
and turns backwards; She used to be a big deal, weighty, but not she is
insignificant
6.
Isaiah
23:8-9-God’s going to cause the “weighty” of the earth (those who are heavy in
the world’s eyes) to be made light, Contempt-Little,
insignificant, make light of, lightly esteemed)
7.
Psalm15:4-In whose eyes a
vile person is contemned (Despise,
worthless, regard with contempt) but he
honors them that fear the Lord
a. The person who fears the
Lord is weighty to him
8.
Jeremiah
30:19-I will glorify (Heavy,
Weighty) them and they shall not be small
(Insignificant)
9.
Nahum
3:10-They cast lots for her honorable
(heavy, weighty) men and all her great
(in importance) men were bound in chains
10.
Leviticus
10:1-3-When the fire of the Lord is devouring people for offering strange fire
before the Lord, which the Lord commanded them not to, it’s going to cause the
Lord to be more weighty among the people; this would cause God and His stuff to
be weighty
11.
Haggai
1:8-Their stuff was weightier than God’s and God said if you put me first and
build my house I will be heavy (glorified)
C. Malachi 1:6-12-God’s
stuff wasn’t as weighty to them as it should have been, it’s light to them and
that led to them disrespecting the Lord
1.
They
despise God’s name-Regard
with contempt; To slight; To neglect as unworthy of regard, esteem, respect;
Worthless
2.
They
said the table of the Lord was contemptible-Unworthy
of regard, esteem, respect; To slight; Worthless
3.
What that tells me is
that without honor in place your prayer life will be unfruitful
a. 9-TAY-You recite, “God be gracious
to us!” But when you bring that kind of gift why should he show you any favor
at all
b. This is an epidemic in the body of Christ today; People that
have no time for God, people to whom his stuff is not weighty and means little
to praying and asking God to be gracious to them and give them a happy life
c. If the Kingdom of God is not first in your life, then you are
not positioned to reap the benefits of it for your life
II.
In a life of dishonor
everything is common, everything is casual, nothing is sacred, nothing is
special, everything is light
A. Mal1:12-You
have profaned my name (treat
as common, dishonor); It should have been weighty to you, but it became just
another thing
1.
God and His stuff can’t
be common to you if you’re going to live a life of honor
2.
Some
put God on the scale and there’s no difference between Him and everything else
that goes on in their life; That means the scales balance; They put God and
their job on the scale and it balances, God and the family and it balances,
Church and baseball practice and it balances; And if that’s your attitude then
God is going to get treating just like everything else, as common
B. In a life of honor there
is some stuff that is really big deal that should be treated as sacred and
special
1.
In
layman’s terms this is what honor does, it makes a big deal of things that
important to the Lord; When you truly do honor something you make a big deal
out of it, it means something to you
a. In an atmosphere where
nothing is a big deal dishonor is running lose
2.
They brought these
offerings everyday and at some point what was once heavy/weighty to them became
light, it became common to them and when it became light the respect dissipated
a. In a routine it is easy
to lose honor because what we do over and over again it’s easy to allow to
become common
C. The opposite of making a
big deal out of it is this word CASUAL and this attitude that it’s no big deal
1.
Casual-Informal, unceremonious, unconcerned; Made or done without much
thought; Off the cuff; Do something in a halfhearted way, unfocused; Lacking
plan, purpose, or enthusiasm; Acting without sufficient care of thoroughness;
Without formality in particular of clothing suitable for everyday wear rather
than formal occasions, informal, everyday
2.
Our approach to God and
to His things should never be casual
a. You are doing nobody a
favor if you act like treating the things of God casually is okay
b. If your approach to God
and His things is casual then you don’t truly know who or what you are
approaching
D. If God’s stuff will become
more weighty to us our respect for Him will be demonstrated at a higher level a
life of honor will be the result
1.
By
magnifying the Lord and His things we can cultivate a life of honor; Magnifying
the Lord has to do with seeing God bigger and making a big deal out of Him and
His things
a. Acts 10:46-Magnify-Esteem highly, Deem great
b. Psalm 34:3-Magnify-Become great or important,
Praise
2.
Romans
11:13-I magnify my office (honor,
hold in honor, cause the worth of a thing to be acknowledged)
a. The respect for your
office won’t be there if you’re honor for the office is absent
3.
Daniel
11:36-38-He magnified himself and in His eye is the biggest thing, heaviest
thing in his life
a. Magnify-Make great or important; Proverbs
12:9-Honoring yourself, Make yourself heavy
E. 11-The Lord said I’m
going to find somebody who my stuff is weighty to (Great-In importance)
1.
Acts
13:46-It’s a principle in the scripture that God’s going to find somebody who honors
him, who his stuff is weighty to
F. Isaiah 58:13-14-If God’s
stuff is weighty to you and you honor him and treat Him with respect he will
honor you
1.
The
way you treat something that is important to the Lord reveals your respect for
the Lord
a. The Sabbath is honorable-heavy, weighty; Holy-It is sacred, special, set
apart
2.
It’s
too weighty to just be treating it like it’s another day and doing your own
stuff
III.
1 Samuel 2:12-30-In your
life, when stuff is weightier than the Lord and His things dishonor will be the
result
A. God and his stuff was
light to them, He and His things were no more weighty than anything else and
that is dishonor
1.
Knew-Discriminate (Observe
the difference between), Distinguish (To know or ascertain difference) Consider
(To have regard to, to respect) acknowledge (To receive with respect)
a. They didn’t observe the difference between God and everybody
else; to them God was common
b. They didn’t ascertain
that God has His things were weightier than everything else; to them God and
His stuff was no more weighty than anything else
2.
They
didn’t regard Him-To attend
to with respect and estimation, to value; To esteem; to hold in respect and
affection
B. Because God was light to
them irreverence manifested; They abhorred the offering of the Lord [Abhorred-To contemn (To slight;
To neglect as unworthy of regard), Despise, To Spurn, Neglect (To slight, to
not treat with attention or respect)]
1.
17,29-They
abhorred, despised, made light of the offering of the Lord and they thought
what they were doing was no big deal
a. This offering meant
nothing to them, but it was a very big deal to the Lord (Very
great-Exceedingly important)
b. What they value is very
different from what the Lord values; They treated it lightly, but it was not a
light thing to the Lord
c. If it’s a big deal to the
Lord, then you need to make a big deal out of it
d. Judges 20:34-Here you
have something that is very heavy, weighty but they didn’t know it was weighty
2.
The
outrage is that they think this (what they’re doing, how they’re treating His
things) is no big deal
a. EX: It was probably this kind of language, “Oh what’s the big
deal, it’s just meat, after all what we’re taking is just being burnt off
anyway and there have been thousands of a sacrifices to the Lord so what’s it
matter if we take the fat of these offerings.”
3.
In a life of dishonor
people demean the importance of things so that they don’t have to be honorable
and treat them with respect
a. You can tell yourself that it’s not a big deal, but that
doesn’t mean that it’s not a big deal; You can act like it’s not big deal, but
that doesn’t mean it isn’t a big deal; I know people like to act like it’s not
a big deal so then it requires no honor of them
C. Honor your sons above
me-Nothing in your life should be weightier, heavier than God and His things,
on the scale God should never go up
1.
He
put his sons and God on the scale and His sons were heavier than the Lord
2.
Whoever,
whatever is heavier than the Lord will be honored and respected above the Lord
a. Malachi 1-Where’s my
honor? Where’s my fear? – That’s literally God saying who’s heavier to
you than me
3.
To
Eli’s sons they were weightier than the Lord; they put themselves on the scale
with the Lord & they went down and the Lord went up
a. So then when it came to
the best part of the offering in their eyes they were worthy of it and God was
not
4.
To live a life of honor
we have to locate the things in our life that are weightier than Him
IV.
This disrespect is most
greatly demonstrated in how we treat God and His stuff, not in what we say
A. Malachi 1:6-12-They
didn’t actually say this with their words, but they are “saying” this by how
they are treating God and His things
1.
Because
this wasn’t weighty to them irreverence/disrespect manifested in how they
treated God and His stuff; Going through the motions is very disrespectful and
they are doing so b/c to them this is no big deal (They’re still bringing the
sacrifice and the bread)
B. Matthew 15:8-Jesus talked
about people who honored God with their lips, but didn’t really honor him; So
these are people who said God we honor you, but they didn’t honor him
1.
When
it comes to determining whether or not you honor the Lord, your lips have very
little to do with it and what you say has very little to do with it; Honor is
not measured by the mouth, it’s measured by the heart and when God searches for
honor he doesn’t search the mouth he searches the heart
a. You don’t locate honor by looking at what a person says, but
by looking at what they value and treat with great care & respect
b. If you do say you
respect/honor/value something there should be evidence of that other than you
just saying it with your mouth
c. This is an area where
there is the greatest distance between what we say and what actually is
2.
Malachi
2:17-God can grow wearisome of your words
a. Ezekiel 33:31-With your
mouth you can show love, but your heart can go after something else
3.
This
area is one of the biggest areas where people lack sight
a. People are dishonoring
the Lord and aren’t locating it because they don’t know what dishonor looks
like
1)
I
believe there’s a lot of space between how much we think we honor him and how
much we actually do honor him
b. These people in Malachi
apparently have no idea how they are dishonoring the Lord
1)
Their
initial response to the Lord saying, “Where is my honor is?” is “No way. How
have we despised your name?”
C. How does this disrespect
and dishonor manifest? In what way does it show up?
1.
Malachi
1:7-They asked him how they were despising Him and He pointed to how they were
treating something that belonged to Him; Their disrespect and dishonor for the
Lord was seen in how they treated something that belonged to the Lord
2.
1
Samuel 2-Their dishonor was demonstrated not by what they said or didn’t say,
but by how they treated God and His things; This lack of respect and esteem and
honor is r seen in how they treat God’s things (This is God’s offering, God’s
priesthood, God’s people)
3.
Most believers aren’t
going to God and saying I don’t honor you; If believers are dishonoring the
Lord it’s manifested mostly in a lack of regard and esteem for His things
a. You can’t say you honor God while you treat His things with
contempt and disregard and disesteem; NO! How you
treat his things reveals whether or not you respect and honor Him
b. People like to try to
separate God from His things and disrespect and dishonor his things and yet say
they honor God
c. With them it was the
Lord’s offering, the Lord’s priesthood, the Lord’s people, but what is if for
you? Maybe it’s the Lord’s services, the Lord’s assignment on your life, the
Lord’s Word, the Lord’s command – If it belongs to God and you treat it with
disesteem, then you treat him with disesteem and dishonor
V.
Does it matter how you
treat God’s things?
A. There’s a danger inside
this environment of everything being convenient and everything being casual of
eventually reaching this place where nothing matters and nothing is a big deal
and everything is light and everything is okay and honor gets lost
1.
The
deception and darkness a lot of times is people saying it doesn’t matter
because God loves you, he loves you the way you are, he accepts you the way you
are, so just do what you want, be want you want and it doesn’t matter
2.
They enemy is a despiser
and he belittles; And things that do matter and are a big deal, he will tell
you oh it’s not big deal and oh that doesn’t matter and God understands and God
loves you; Nothing matters, nothing is a big deal, God doesn’t care, he loves
you
B. Malachi 1:6-8-They
despised him and dishonored him by treating his table with disesteem
1.
The
altar was 30ft x 30ft x15ft high and it was made of stone and covered in brass
a. It’s a big, huge brass
covered table; it’s natural and yet the way the treated this natural thing
revealed their dishonor for the Lord
b. When it was time to bring
and offering to this natural table they would bring natural animals; just
fleshy natural cows and sheep and oxen and yet the animal they brought revealed
their dishonor for the Lord
2.
I
bet they thought it’s just a table, it’s just bread, it’s just an animal and I
mean how much does that really mean in the big picture; after all we are giving
something and the Lord doesn’t care about these natural things, he looks at our
heart
a. Yes the Lord does look at
the heart, but the way you handle natural things reveals your heart
C. Matthew 22:4-They made
light of this dinner and treated it with carless neglect and by treating this
dinner with dishonor and disesteem they treated the Lord that way
1.
This
dinner is natural there was natural food, natural music, natural dancing, it
was in a natural building and yet how they handled and treated these natural
things that will all be ash someday revealed their lack of honor for the Lord
2.
It
meant something to the Lord and was very important to the Lord – IT’S A
DINNER
3.
I
bet they thought it’s just a dinner, I mean how much does it really mean in the
big picture; after all we have lives and the Lord understands and the Lord
loves us and the Lord knows our heart
D. 1 Samuel 24:10-By
treating God’s choice with honor and respect, David treated God that way
1.
Dishonor
would say oh it doesn’t matter, he’s jut a man and after all he’s going nuts
and doing the wrong stuff
2.
David
said about Saul, “He is the Lord’s anointed,” and David wouldn’t touch him
3.
This
right here showed that David was a man of honor, a man after God’s own heart,
and this had so much to do with why David was picked to be the next king and
why God used him the way he did
E. 1 Kings 17:10-11- How you
treat the one the Lord sends is how you treat the Lord
1.
Does
how she treat this flesh and blood, imperfect, natural, living, breathing, talking immortal man matter to the Lord? Is he just flesh or
is he something else? This is so much bigger than just flesh
2.
Luke
10:16-“I mean their just a man, their just a woman like I am and their just
flesh and I know I might not treat them with the greatest respect, but I
respect the Lord.” – The Lord himself says you don’t
3.
Numbers
14:2,27-They were murmuring against Moses but God counted it as murmuring
against Him
F. Luke 16:10-Money is
natural and you can’t take any to heaven with you and yet the Lord says if you
are not faithful in this NATURAL thing called money then I can’t trust you with
true riches
1.
So
apparently how you handle your NATURAL money God is watching and he’s
interested in and it’s playing a huge part in whether or not He gives unto you
true riches; Does it matter or is it just money?
G. It’s a strategy of the
enemy to make everything natural and about flesh in attempt to demean the
importance of something that you should be really important to you
1.
The
enemy will belittle and disesteem something that you should be honoring and
esteeming
2.
The
enemy wants you to think that nothing really matters and he doesn’t want you to
see the true importance of these things
3.
So
many times when it comes to things in this natural life there’s something
bigger going on that we don’t see
4.
In
your mind the enemy wants to turn it into something natural/flesh and demean
the importance of it so that you get to the place where you’re not treating it
with any respect and you think it’s okay because you think it’s not that big of
deal
5.
The
more carnal you are the less real spiritual things are to you and the tendency
is to look at everything only from a natural, fleshy, carnal perspective and carnality
says these are just things and because they are just things it doesn’t matter
all that much
6.
Mark
6-He did this with Jesus in his hometown; He was just the carpenter, Mary’s boy
and to them it was all natural all flesh
7.
Colossians
3:23-25-Don’t make everything about natural and about flesh because a lot of
this stuff is much bigger than that
a. The Lord is gazing into
your heart & even though these things are natural they’re bigger than that
because they reveal your heart